by Duet Cuellar

Created on: February 25, 2009   Last Updated: February 26, 2009

Chinese New Year usually comes around January or February, depending on the Lunar Calendar. I moved from Hong Kong to Atlanta 10 years ago and I have started this traditional celebration as our annual family event. Not like other major cities in the U.S., Atlanta does not have a big China Town. In fact, the China Town here is more like an Asian Square which offers a very good mix of many Asian nationalities, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Cambodian, Malaysian, etc.

In our culture, Chinese New Year is a big thing, it is the most important festival of the year. It starts a few days before the Chinese New Year and everyone will prepare for the big celebration when the New Year Day arrives. On the 28th day of the last month of the year, we have to do a major cleanup within the house. This way we kick out all the bad luck and push away all the bad things from before so we get ready for the goodness and fortune to arrive along with the New Year. During the first few days of the New Year, we are actually not allowed to sweep the floor or do vacuuming, it is believed that cleaning will then kick out the good fortune that arrives along with the New Year.

New Year's Eve is all about family reunion and the New Year's Eve dinner is considered the most important meal within the family. It is very much like the tradition of Thanksgiving here in the U.S. No matter where you are, you will always try and want to go home for this New Year's Eve dinner with the whole family. And after the dinner, the whole family will go out to the "Flower Market". This is a special kind of "Flower Market" that merchants gather and hold usually only a few days before the New Year. People have the tradition to pick up certain kind of flowers to decorate the house that will bring fortune. For instance, tangerine is a very popular kind when it comes to Chinese New Year. It represents "gold" as the tangerine itself looks like.

This is the kind of tangerine tree we get for Chinese New Year. We hope to bring the "gold" into the house.

We get new clothes, new socks, new shoes, new pillows, bedding and even new tooth brush .... And for the last week of the year, my Mom usually gets very busy making and shopping for varieties of food for the New Year celebration. There are tons of special treats and food that we eat in particular to celebrate the New Year. Each kind of food symbolizes and brings good luck, fortune, prosperity, longevity and good health.

One thing I always looked forward to was the candy

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